To promote the name of Jesus Christ and His Word by testifying to His work in my life and the lives of my family and friends.

Saturday, January 31, 2009

Cherish God's Word!

If spirituality is measured in number of Bibles owned, the Bonhams are near to God, indeed. I counted in our house at least twenty Bibles: Bibles in several versions (ESV, NKJV, ESV, NASB, NLT, KJV); a Greek interlinear Bible, several 'give-away' New Testaments (yet to be given away); even Bibles that include commentary on almost every verse like the MacArthur Study Bible and the Reformation Study Bible. Not to mention the wealth of Bibles available at our fingertips (for example BibleGateway.org and ESV.org)

But rather than being the supersaints and the Biblical experts we ought to be, we hardly touch our Bibles! To whom much is given, much is required! We don't cherish and study God's Word like we should.

A dear brother passed along a link to this week's broadcast of Ravi Zacharias's "Let My People Think", since he is related to the guest's wife, retired missionaries to Hong Kong. John Bechtel shares a great story of a trip to China during the 80's when he attempts to meet a Christian. This story illustrates that there were times when Bibles were not readily available, and there are parts of the world even today where they are hard to come by.

This message is a great reminder to cherish God's Word, and not to be just a "hearer only" of the Word, but a "doer". (James 1:22-25) And if we are truly a "doer" of God's Word, we will also seek to share it as far and wide as the Lord allows us to!

Here is an introduction to this episode from RZIM, followed by a link to the message itself:

Depending on the source, publishers believe that the average American household has at least three Bibles. Some polling groups report that upwards of forty percent of the American public claim to read the Bible on a daily basis. Yet many pastors and churches would report that Biblical illiteracy is at an all-time high. If American’s hold the Bible to be so precious, why does the Word of God continue to lose its place in our lives? This week we present a very special program featuring a powerful story from Christian missionary John Bechtel and a stirring Q & A with Ravi Zacharias. Join us to rediscover The Resilience and Power of God’s Word.

1 Peter 2:1-3, So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander. 2 Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation— 3if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.